Los Angeles info

Places to see in Los Angeles

Places to see in Los Angeles, things to do in Los Angeles California

1. Disneyland

"Mic-key-Mouse! Mic-key-Mouse!" The chanting starts on the tram before you can see the Disneyland gates. Excited children pull their parents along like a tugboat in the harbor. Picture-taking starts before people get inside the gates. The words over the entry tunnel read: "Here you leave today and enter world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." As they pass through that tunnel, children stop whining and grumpy parents are transformed. It's Disneyland, and after more than fifty years, it's still the Happiest Place on Earth.

Hollywood Boulevard is the stuff of legends, but it may not be what you expect. You won't find movie stars walking the streets, and most of the movie studios moved out years ago, with Paramount the only one left in town and quite far from Hollywood Boulevard. Frankly, this part of Hollywood is one of the most touristy spots in all of Los Angeles, full of t-shirt and souvenir shops, the streets packed with gawping tourists snapping photos. It's also the home of the Walk of Fame, footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Hollywood at Highland shopping/dining complex.

4. Rodeo Drive

Rodeo Drive is at its best during the evening near Christmas, when lights and flowers decorate the streets and the stores get more gussied up than their best-dressed patrons. The rest of the year, it's less crowded weekdays. Avoid Sunday when many shops are closed and all you'll find are a few tourists peering into darkened windows. Every Father's Day, Rodeo Drive closes for a vintage car show (free and open to public).

5. Venice Beach, California

Not surprisingly, Venice Beach is busiest in summer, but may be prone to morning and evening fog. To enjoy the crowded hustle-bustle, arrive mid-morning or later on a weekend. Summer weekday afternoons can also be pleasant. The beachfront goes to sleep after dark. The most interesting and popular sight in Venice Beach is the beach, but it's not the surf and sand that take center stage here. It's the lively sidewalk scene. Venice Beach is a place where you'll find artists, palm readers and bikini-clad rollerskaters mixing with chanting, saffron-clad Hare Krishnas and wriggling belly dancers.

6. Sunset boulevard

The stars may work at the movie studios in Hollywood and the Valley, but most of them live in the posh residential neighborhoods of L.A.'s west side: Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Brentwood, and the Malibu Colony. Sunset Boulevard, one of the world's most famous streets, was born as a route between those two divergent worlds. The Boulevard still links the gritty, urban streets of downtown Hollywood to the lush, green, residential avenues of Beverly Hills. A drive west along Sunset allows you to experience a little of both worlds. The name Sunset Boulevard has become a part of Hollywood legend, the inspiration for countless songs, movies & TV shows.

7. Knotts Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm is divided into six themed areas spread over 150 acres, and size that's easily walkable. You'll find 38 major rides at the park. Seven are extreme thrill rides, most of them in the Boardwalk area. They include GhostRider, with the longest banked wooden coaster drop in the Western United States. Camp Snoopy is the place to go with smaller children, but you'll find things they like in other areas, too.

8. Queen Mary

While not so big and sleek as today's mega-cruise liners, the Queen Mary is an elegant reminder of a bygone era. There are several options for visiting the Queen Mary:
* Self-guided Shipwalk tours take visitors over the 1020-footQueen Mary, from the engine room to the wheelhouse.
* Daily guided tours explore the glorious past of Queen Mary, from the luxurious dining room to the indoor fresh water swimming pool.
* The Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary tour dramatizes paranormal and historic events over the last sixty years.
* Every Halloween, the Queen Mary is home to Shipwreck an event they bill as a "Terrorfest."

9. Six Flags Magic Mountain Visitor Guide

Six Flags Magic Mountain boasts one of the world's largest collections of extreme rides. It's not so much a theme park as what some folks call an "iron park" for all the steel used to build the rides, with a collection of roller coasters that elicit superlatives including fastest, tallest, first and only. Six Flags Magic Mountain appeals most to fans of fast, scary thrill rides. Some attractions are geared toward the under-48-inch-tall set, but most visitors (especially on weekends) are in their mid-teens to mid-twenties.

10. Griffith Park

Encompassing over 4,107 acres of natural terrain covered with California oak trees, wild sage and manzanita, Griffith Park is the United States' largest municipal park. While it's typically not associated with it, Griffith Park is also home to the Hollywood sign, which stands on Mt. Lee.